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Joseph Joubert

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II

Name: The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II
Author: Joseph Joubert

Complete Notebooks · French with an independent English translation.

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The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II1812 · Entry 6389

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French Page · Branch 2608 of 4529

1812 · Entry 6389

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 5215

La sophistique littéraire ou l’art de farder les pensées par des mots. […]es mots fardent quand ils donnent aux pensées de l’éclat, sans y […]outer de la beauté. Il y a un lustre nécessaire à tout bon style, qui […]est pas proprement du fard; il n’est que de la propreté.

Il y a quelquefois dans le style un lustre, un éclat qui est semblable […] celui des métaux. Ceux qui l’employent ne fardent pas à propre[…]ent parler, mais ils dorent ce qu’ils disent. On diroit que ceux là […]rivent avec une encre plus luisante et qu’ils ont jetté sur leur écri[…]re encore fraîche ou de la poudre de diamant ou de la poussière […]’ailes de papillons. Tout cela ne va point à l’âme ni au goût, mais […] arrête aux yeux de l’esprit qui en est d’abord ébloui et insensible[…]ent fatigué.

Esménard offre un exemple perpétuel de cette espèce d’artifices.

Donc, le fard, la dorure et les lenocinia orationis ou les artifices […]u genre affectif.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: 1812

p. 5216

Literary sophistry, or the art of applying cosmetics to thoughts with words. Words apply cosmetics when they give thoughts brilliance without [adding] beauty. There is a luster necessary to every good style that is [not] properly a cosmetic; it is only cleanliness.

There is sometimes in style a luster, a brilliance, that is similar [to] that of metals. Those who use it do not, [properly] speaking, apply cosmetics, but gild what they say. One would think that they [write] with a shinier ink and have thrown either diamond powder or the dust [of] butterfly wings upon their still-fresh [writing]. None of this reaches the soul or taste, but [stops] at the eyes of the mind, which is at first dazzled and [imperceptibly] wearied by it.

Esménard offers a perpetual example of this kind of artifice.

Thus, cosmetics, gilding and the seductions of speech, or the artifices [of the] affective kind.

T193.The repeated cosmetic metaphor and brilliance/beauty distinction remain, with cleanliness distinct from adornment. [Adding] and [not] interpret the damaged words as ajouter and n’est; is separately renders the intact est. Contextual Les from […]es has no separate article before English Words; the intact mots is not presented as lost. No general charge of insincerity replaces the physical image.

T505.Four paragraphs remain. The left edge interrupts […]es, […]outer, […]est, propre[…]ent, […]rivent, écri[…]re, […]’ailes, insensible[…]ent and […]u. Whole-word or component losses before celui and arrête remain unresolved. Expected Les/ajouter/n’est/à/proprement/écrivent/écriture/d’ailes/s’arrête/insensiblement/du are contextual possibilities only, not recovered text. The first e in es and the apostrophe before ailes are partly abraded; the selected surviving components remain qualified. Esménard retains its printed accent; genre affectif is intact and must not be changed to affecté. The last paragraph is nominal. Only lenocinia orationis is italic in its paragraph.

T194.The cosmetics/gilding distinction, two powders and still-fresh writing remain. The mind retains its eyes, initial dazzling and imperceptible fatigue. Brackets mark contextual à, proprement, écrivent, écriture, d’ailes, s’arrête and insensiblement. Their English counterparts are to, properly, write, writing, of, stops and imperceptibly; English places the writing phrase later in the sentence. The broader stops includes the intact arrête with its lost reflexive component. The English of likewise renders the damaged component before intact ailes; butterfly wings remains outside it. These are interpretations, not recovery of the missing letters.

T195.The source’s name and perpetual judgment remain, without a new poem or work identified.

T196.The nominal closing inventory remains. Seductions of speech translates the italic lenocinia orationis with its rhetorical, artificial allurement; a bounded Quintilian parallel does not certify this exact phrase as a quotation from him. Affective renders intact affectif, pertaining to affection or stirring feeling, not mannered affectation. The 1798 dictionary’s chiefly devotional examples do not supply a religious subject here. [Of the] reads damaged […]u contextually as du.

About This Reading Edition

Joubert’s notebooks return to the work of thinking and writing, the demands of friendship, and questions of faith, beauty and conduct. This edition pairs the French with a new English translation, preserving the order of the chosen source and the unfinished character of its fragments. Dates and source references allow readers to follow a thought through time or return to its printed context.

Historical Text and Translation

The French text follows André Beaunier’s 1938 edition of Les Carnets de Joseph Joubert, published by Gallimard from Joubert’s autograph manuscripts. Volume II continues the notebooks and includes seventy undated pieces. French and English are aligned paragraph by paragraph, retaining the source order, printed dates and page references so readers can return to the facsimile.

About Diotimos Editions

Diotimos Editions prepared this new English translation directly from the French, preserving Joubert’s distinctions, recurring images, ambiguities and unfinished thoughts. Translator’s notes clarify wording, references and uncertain readings: Essential keeps notes that help explain a passage, while All includes technical detail. Annotations from the 1938 source edition remain distinct from the new translator’s notes.

Rights

The linked facsimile records identify the French source as public domain in the United States. The new English translation and editorial notes are © 2026 Diotimos, with source annotations and new editorial contributions credited separately. This edition pairs the complete French notebooks with an independent English translation, preserving the distinction between Joubert’s text and its accompanying notes.